Pizza Machine owner, landlord in dispute A contentious brouhaha over dough — not the kind made with flour — has resulted in the owner of popular party spot Pizza Machine being tossed out of his home and business.

“The landlord is a corporate tycoon stock market guy who was trying to make us pay $20,000 a month in overhead and decided to take the business from us,” said the restaurant’s creator, Jerry Neumann. Neumann, 25, a champion pizza thrower and metal artist, opened Pizza Machine, which is filled with funky metal art, three years ago in Vinegar Hill Mall, 107 W. Cook St.

“We want to let customers know that we’ve been cut off,” Neumann said. “We’ve booked wedding receptions and corporate events. They don’t have our recipes. The employees who cared walked away. It’s not the same place.”